7 of 2010: Altar Eagle - Mechanical Gardens (Type)

The Type Records release page for this one will give you every thing you need, but here are some simple keywords to start:

Shoegaze
Subdued guy-girl vocals
80s introspective new wave pop
Factory Records-era The Wake (absolutely, 100%)

You can play the entire album off of the release page linked below.

Brad Rose (aka The North Sea) is probably the last person you’d expect to see at the helm of a pop album. A folk record – maybe, a noise record – sure, but pop? Probably not. Yet that’s exactly what he and his wife Eden Hemming have done with ‘Mechanical Gardens’. The ALTAREAGLE sound might not come as much of a shock for those cassette collectors who have managed to source copies of the duo’s now rare debut EPs, but for the rest of the world it should serve as a radical change in direction for one of experimental music’s most valuable sons.

The ear-splitting noise that enticed listeners on ‘Bloodlines’ is all but forgotten as Brad and Eden pick through shimmering dream-pop and cold-wave electronics with the greatest of ease. The quality is assured within minutes of the gorgeous Slowdive-esque opener ‘Battlegrounds’. Anchored by Eden’s humming, ethereal vocal tones, the song is a glorious statement of intent and while the band go into clubbier directions on the second half, this song is a gateway to their sound.

Possibly the biggest surprise on ‘Mechanical Gardens’ is the sound shift which occurs mid-way through the record, as the bubbling bliss of ‘B’Nai B’Rith Girls’ gives way to the abrasive electro growl of ‘Monsters’. Influenced in part by Eden’s long-time love affair with techno and Brad’s recent obsession with synthesizers, the duo strike a perfect middle ground between crumbling experimentation and pop excess. This is rarely better explored than on ‘Spy Movie’, a track that somehow combines the supposedly warring sounds of Juan Atkins and early My Bloody Valentine.

On ‘Mechanical Gardens’ Brad and Eden have created an album that revels in its grab-bag of influences, but somehow they have managed to emerge with a sound that is totally singular. It’s pop music for sure, but uncynical, atypical and hugely enjoyable.

http://typerecords.com/releases/mechanical-gardens-2

8 of 2010: Beach House - Teen Dream CD/LP (Sub Pop)

Haven't seen much worth quoting on this one in limited digging, but this one was a difficult one to pin for me. I think it's a really good album but it can be a challenge to figure out a proper end-of-year opinion due to extreme oversaturation. Oversaturation? See: girlfriend who plays each Beach House twice a day for two-months-plus upon release as well as working someplace with mandated playlists that mean this is not only played every single work shift for three months, but happily so, as it is easily the best/half-decent thing available to be required play.

Yeah, Teen Dream was killed to death in a background half-listened ever-present way for me, but I can still do my own repeated playing of at least one track, Real Love. I could probably rank this album off the strength of this track alone. I would also mention 10 Mile Stereo, Lover of Mine, and Zebra. I really don't know what to say about the album, but while their previous two rank much higher for me, I continue to hold this one in esteem in some way or other. I'm still not certain if I ranked this one properly, as the Arnalds might prove to hold more longevity for me and the Jefre Cantu-Ledesma definitely should have been in this top ten list (it suffered from an 11th hour (month?) release date), in any case, one of the memorable albums this year.

Sounds like: Girl fronted breathy, impassioned keyboard dream pop (non-ambient).

http://store.easystreetonline.com/rel/v2_viewupc.php?storenr=375&upc=09878708452
http://www.beachhousebaltimore.com

9 of 2010: VA-Saigon Rock & Soul (Vietnamese Classic Tracks 1968-1974)

Sublime Frequencies is a crucial record label doing great things, and this was their best for 2010! They have a habit of releasing items on LP and then doing a CD version 6-12 months later, so we are probably nearing some kind of CD release for this one. Due to this, the LP version is getting harder to find at this point, as boomkat is out of it already.

Here's the summary of this album from the source, Sublime Frequencies. As of 12-29-10 their site remains down, but I am sure this is temporary and it should be back at any moment in the next couple weeks. I recommend at least reading this information as it alone is really interesting.

The long-awaited foray into the Vietnamese Rock, Pop and Soul sound of the late 1960s and early 1970s is finally here. Saigon Rock and Soul delivers the goods International retro collectors have been searching for in vain for many years - and it delivers beyond belief. Every song is a mini- masterpiece be it heavy acid rock psychedelia, horn and guitar drenched funk grooves, or gripping soul ballads reflective of life during wartime. The tracks that form this collection cut a window into a rich musical Vietnamese music scene that has long been obscured, and for the most part, forgotten. As the scope of electrified Vietnamese music from the 1960s and 1970s begins to be revealed, it becomes evident that this was among the heaviest and most eclectic musical scenes of South East Asia at the time. These songs tell of war, love and what war does to love. All of them were recorded in makeshift studios and even US army facilities while the Vietnam War raged and were issued by a handful of Saigon record companies on vinyl 45s and reel or cassette tapes.

Westernized forms of music in Vietnam had appeared during the latter nineteenth century, and especially during the early 20th century, under the influence of the French colonizers. Tan Nhac (modern music) always incorporated both domestic and international sounds, and continued to develop alongside Western musical trends.

During the 1960s and 1970s, pulp ballads were being recorded by leading crooners of the time who alternated between modern and traditional forms of regional music. When the electric guitar hit the streets of Saigon, Vietnamese renditions of contemporary instrumental trends such as surf rock, beat and twist soon emerged, followed by some pretty deep soul sounds inspired by Motown radio hits as well as funk grooves brought on by James Brown and his contemporaries. By the mid-1960s, Vietnam had been ravaged by war for years. American G.I.s had become a standard fixture in Saigon, as did many of the cultural artifacts they brought with them. This certainly included the music. The sounds of rock and roll dominated the radio waves, and Saigon nightclubs were teeming with new sounds. Musically, the Shadows and the Ventures soon gave way to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones as an enthusiastic set of young Vietnamese rockers signed on to the lifestyle, always eager to hear the latest musical trends the G.I.s would bring in on LP or tape. This era saw the birth of a vibrant rock scene yet rock music and anything that came close was commonly referred to as soul in the Vietnamese genre-listings.

Like many cultures in Asia, Vietnamese music is recorded, marketed, listened to and disposed of in a relatively quick manner. This level of advanced ephemera ensures a degree of difficulty when trying to unearth and discover cultural histories. Literally, most of the music heard here has been brought back from the dead. Artists featured include some of Vietnams most popular at the time: Elvis Phuong, Hùng Cường, Mai Lệ Huyền, Lệ Thu, Thai Thanh, Giao Linh, and the CBC Band. This limited edition 2-LP vinyl release features 70 minutes of classic original recordings compiled by Mark Gergis housed in a beautiful full-color gatefold jacket with extensive liner notes.

http://www.sublimefrequencies.com/item.asp?Item_id=71&t=Saigon-Rock-&-Soul:-Vietnamese-Classic-Tracks-1968-1974
http://store.easystreetonline.com/rel/v2_viewupc.php?storenr=375&upc=61350527572

10 of 2010: Ólafur arnalds - and they have escaped the weight of darkness

i'm not much of a music writer, and so from boomkat (boomkat.com) (also take note of the fact that this album has its due to BELA TARR, damn cool and means this should probably have been further up the list of good albums this year, but subtract a few points due to his first US tour in early 2011 has two dates in california and zero in Seattle! die california!) :

The stock of this young Icelandic composer has risen dramatically within a relatively short period of time, and although this is only the second album proper from Olafur Arnalds, there's been a healthy amount of anticipation building up to its release. And They Have Escaped The Weight Of Darkness takes its name from a line in Bela Tarr's Werckmeister Harmonies, a film that Arnalds cites as a major inspiration all round for this album, and knowing that certainly invites you to draw parallels between the stately, elegant pacing and proportions of the respective works. Arnalds is able to draw a vast spectrum of colours from a relatively restricted palette, and previously the interplay between strings and piano gave him all manner of achingly lovely material, but for this latest project Arnalds has set aside the homespun electronic additional productions of his prior releases and looked to a bigger, more fully produced sound, assisted by fellow Icelandic maverick, Barði Johannsson (known for his work with pop/electronica outfit, Bang Gang). Tracks like 'Tunglið' and the massive sounding 'Gleypa Okkur' really benefit from the additional live instrumentation, with drums and noisier, rockier elements all helping to broaden Arnalds' repertoire beyond the neo-classical parameters we'd ordinarily associate with him, and resituate his work within a more contemporary and hard-wearing style. A confirmed career milestone for this ever-improving artist.

so yeah, if you like Sigur Ros, Max Richter, Rachel's, Johann Johannsson, Peter Broderick, Nils Frahm, and anything modern classical, this has to be part of your CD shelf. Additionally, f you are interested in anything from the aforementioned cast of characters, you should investigate each one of them should any remain unknown to date.

http://store.easystreetonline.com/rel/v2_viewupc.php?storenr=375&upc=405048601693
http://boomkat.com/cds/294548--lafur-arnalds-and-they-have-escaped-the-weight-of-darkness
http://www.erasedtapes.com

Ólafur arnalds is also on twitter and facebook posting regularly.

Death to False Emo

There has been a ton of true emo music from the late 80s through the early 2000s available (more available than it was back ten or fifteen years ago when I listened to it often) but I wasn't really aware until now. This is great because it's all stuff that was on limited vinyl releases followed by discography collections that were usually equally limited, so no matter what you do, getting hold of the music is a pain in the ass. I found some incredible stuff floating around online that I was surprised to see. Don Martin Three was probably the most stunning find, so that tops the list.

Don Martin Three
http://www.mediafire.com/?minejcydd2m
http://shallbejudged.blogspot.com/2007/04/don-martin-3-self-titled-12-belladonna.html


Constatine Sankathi
http://dancefloornumerology.blogspot.com/2008/10/constatine-sankathi-discography-council.html


Hal al Shedad (it's his blog)
Spirit Assembly
http://beyondfailure.blogspot.com/2008/07/our-friends-from-amish-country-spirit.html



This guy's blog is unbelievable. I don't even know half this stuff, but for anyone who does, the site has got to be the most insane gold mine. I never liked any of the NYHC stuff for whatever reason, just not a style I was into, but there's a couple of things in there I'm a fan of and the fact that a site like this exists is really, really cool, for those people who do know and like all that other stuff. Plus the exhaustive info included is just unheard of.. I just wish anything that more blogs like this existed. One thing that was pretty amusing was this one post for a band called Release, where it said about one of their records - "The test presses had 'United Record Pressing' white labels, and were on black vinyl. There were also special "Wolverine" editions on black vinyl with different covers and Marvel cards inside."

Merel early stuff
Moss Icon live stuff 1988-91 (search blog)
Moss Icon 2xcd discography
http://bloggedquartered.blogspot.com/2009/07/merel-early-recordings-1990-1991.html
http://bloggedquartered.blogspot.com/2009/02/moss-icon-1987-1991.html

Flashpapr / Fred Thomas / Saturday Looks Good to Me

There's some cool music that's really hard to find by the guy from the pop band called Saturday Looks Good to Me. I really like a bunch of the songs he has written either with that name, or his own name (Fred Thomas) or under the name of Flashpapr. Someone has a bunch of his super limited and rare self-released stuff put up online. I dont think you can get any of this stuff direct anymore, in fact I would like to get a couple of the Flashpapr ones posted here but I don't think he has any of this stuff for sale anymore. I picked up a bunch of homemade discs such as these at one of his shows years back, but missed some of this other stuff. In fact, one of the downloads available here is a disc I asked him personally at length about getting somehow and he didn't seem to have any way to get a copy to me, and this was way back then. Nice to see it available here. 

So the link to all of these goods is here 

http://guineapigwatermelon.wordpress.com/category/fred-thomas/

Somewhere still exists a fairly excellent accounting of that show I mentioned seeing, committed to DV tape. My videocam promptly died and that tape has just been hanging around. Someday I hope it is recovered to disc or something.

Still hoping to see a Chapterhouse date the beginning of May in Seattle. So far the only news is Brooklyn and Chicago.

It's amusing/troubling to read posts online covering the 'reunion' talking about it being strange for them to come back before other such groups as Ride, etc. The other groups were all great as well but I am more excited about seeing Chapterhouse than any of the other ones. Slowdive would be the other one at the top of the list, but I am content to keep seeing m3/Neil shows as I enjoy that stuff just the same.

Anyway, give us Chapterhouse!